What a Shopify store
actually costs in South Africa
Published price bands, what sits inside each one, what pushes a quote up, and the running costs most agencies leave out of the conversation until after you have signed.
Three price bands,
published up front.
Most South African agencies will not quote you a number until you have sat through a discovery call. We publish ours, because the first thing you actually need to know is whether we are in your range at all.
What sits inside
each band.
Launch — from R9,500
A properly configured Shopify store on a premium theme, set up to take money on day one. This is the right call if you are validating a product, moving off Instagram DMs, or replacing a store that never really worked.
Theme configured to your brand, up to 20 products loaded, payment gateway connected, shipping rates and courier set up, core pages written and built, analytics installed, and a launch checklist run before go-live.
Growth — R20,000 to R34,999
The band most established brands land in. Everything in Launch, plus the work that separates a store that exists from a store that sells.
Custom section and template work, up to 100 products, collection and navigation architecture built around how people actually shop your range, conversion-focused product and cart pages, email capture and flows connected, technical SEO foundation, speed pass before launch, and 2 months of post-launch support.
Commerce+ — from R35,000
Brand-led commerce, quoted per project. Bespoke theme development rather than configuration, custom integrations into ERP, accounting or fulfilment systems, multi-currency or multi-market setups, subscription or B2B mechanics, and an ongoing optimisation relationship rather than a handover.
What actually
moves the number.
Two stores in the same band will not always land on the same number. These are the things that decide it — and the reason an accurate quote takes a ten-minute conversation rather than a discovery process.
Catalogue size
Products beyond your band’s allowance are priced per product depending on how much work each one needs — R120 for a straightforward upload, R150 where variants and options are involved, R200 where copy, imagery or specification data has to be built rather than supplied. A 400-product catalogue is a bigger line item than the theme.
Integrations
Courier integration, accounting sync, ERP or POS connections, subscription tooling and review platforms all add scope. Connecting two or three couriers is a different job from connecting five with rate rules per region.
Migration complexity
Moving from WooCommerce, Wix or Squarespace costs more than starting fresh, because order history, customer accounts and the redirect map all have to come across intact. We cover that work in detail here.
Custom build versus configuration
A premium theme configured well covers most brands. A bespoke theme built from scratch is the biggest single cost jump on this page, and it is worth it far less often than agencies suggest.
Brand work
If you have a logo, colours and photography, we build. If you do not, brand identity is a separate workstream — a logo revamp sits around R4,500, a full identity system is quoted on its own.
Want the number for your store, not a band? Tell us your catalogue size, whether you are migrating, and which integrations you need — we come back with a fixed quote, usually within one business day.
Get My Fixed Quote →Already have a store? Run a free store health check first — it takes about 30 seconds.
The monthly costs
nobody quotes you.
The build is once. These are forever, they are not paid to us, and you should budget them before you sign anything.
Shopify subscription
Billed monthly or annually directly by Shopify, in your own account. Most South African brands start on Basic and move up when order volume justifies it. The plan you need is a conversation about volume, not a default.
Payment gateway fees
Yoco, PayFast, Peach Payments and Ozow all charge a percentage per transaction and differ on settlement time. On thin margins the gateway choice is worth more than most design decisions — we help you pick on your numbers, not on which one is most popular.
Apps
Reviews, email, subscriptions, upsells and shipping tools are mostly monthly subscriptions in dollars. They also slow your store down, which is why we install as few as the job actually needs.
Ongoing support
Every build includes post-launch support: 1 month on Launch, 2 on Growth and 3 on Commerce+. After that a monthly retainer covering updates, new features, monitoring and conversion work is optional and quoted per store. Plenty of clients run without one.
Payment terms: our standard split is 40% to start, 30% at build milestone, 30% before go-live. Flexible plans are available on larger projects — ask. International clients: quotes can be issued in USD, GBP or EUR.
See Full Service Pricing →Common Questions,
Straight Answers.
What is the cheapest a real Shopify store can be built for in South Africa?
Our entry build starts at R9,500, and that is the floor for a store we are willing to put our name on — properly configured, conversion-aware, and supported after launch. Cheaper work exists, but below our floor you are generally buying a theme installation rather than a build. That suits some situations; it is simply a different product and should be described honestly as one.
Why do most agencies hide their pricing?
Because a discovery call lets them price against your budget rather than against the work. We would rather publish the bands and lose the enquiries we were never going to be right for.
Is the quote fixed or does it move?
Fixed before we start. If the scope changes mid-project because you want something added, we quote that separately and you decide — you will never receive an invoice you have not agreed to first.
How long does a Shopify build take?
A Launch store is typically two to three weeks. A Growth build runs four to eight weeks depending on catalogue size, integrations, and how quickly product data and content come back to us. That last part is usually the real variable.
Do I pay Shopify separately?
Yes. Your Shopify subscription, apps and payment gateway fees are billed directly to you in your own accounts, which means you own the store outright and can take it elsewhere at any time. We never hold your platform account.
Do you work with brands outside South Africa?
Yes. The bands above are quoted in rand because most of our clients are South African, but we work remotely with brands worldwide and can issue quotes in USD, GBP or EUR. Scope drives the number, not your postcode — the only things that change internationally are currency, VAT handling and which payment gateway makes sense in your market.
Do you only quote for Shopify builds?
No. Shopify is our deepest specialism and usually our recommendation, but we also build and maintain WooCommerce and BigCommerce stores. The bands above apply to comparable scope on any of the three.
Want a real number
for your store?
Tell us your catalogue size, whether you are migrating, and what integrations you need. We will come back with a fixed quote — no discovery process required to find out if we are in your range.